The Journey of Food

When you eat, your body gets to work breaking food into tiny pieces it can use for energy and growing. This whole process is called digestion. It is a journey that takes about a day from start to finish, travelling through a long, winding tube inside you.

The journey begins in your mouth. Your teeth chop and grind the food, while your spit, called saliva, makes it soft and wet so it is easy to swallow. Saliva even contains special helpers that start breaking down your food before you have swallowed a single bite.

After you swallow, food slides down a tube called the gullet, or oesophagus. The walls of this tube squeeze in waves to push the food downwards. This squeezing is so strong that you could swallow even while standing on your head — your food would still travel the right way!

Next stop: the stomach. This stretchy bag mixes your food with a powerful juice called acid and churns it until it becomes a thick soup. Do not worry — a special slimy lining protects your stomach so the acid never hurts it. The food usually stays here for a few hours.

Now the soupy food enters the small intestine, the longest part of the journey. Here the real magic happens: all the goodness — the vitamins, sugars and other nutrients — is soaked up through the walls and passes into your blood. Your blood then carries this fuel to every cell in your body.

Whatever is left over that your body cannot use travels into the large intestine. Here, water is taken back into your body so it is not wasted. The leftover waste is then ready to leave your body when you go to the toilet. Nothing useful is thrown away!

Eating a mix of foods keeps the whole journey working well. Fibre, found in fruit, vegetables and wholegrains, gives the muscles of your gut something to push against. Drinking water keeps everything moving smoothly. Your digestive system loves a colourful, varied plate of food.